Ashley Lacour and Kristina Popova, the duo behind Sibarth Villas, share their secrets for an ideal day of shopping, eating, and sunning on their adopted homeland isle.

Ashley Lacour and Kristina Popova, the duo behind Sibarth Villas, share their secrets for an ideal day of shopping, eating, and sunning on their adopted homeland isle.

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Beach: Petite St. Jean

Beach: Petite St. Jean

This our favorite afternoon beach. It's especially fun when we can take a break on a weekday, when you have the best chance of finding a secluded spot all to yourself. With fine white sand, shade from the occasional coconut palm, and the soothing whisper of the wind, this beach on the eastern end of St. Jean is especially relaxing. The water is usually very calm, especially toward the right-hand side of the beach, where it can be so placid and clear that it feels like you are swimming in an azure lake. One big advantage of this location is that it is just steps from the heart of the village of St. Jean, with plenty of small restaurants and shops when you need a break from the sun. When the water is calm, this is an ideal beach for children.

Courtesy Sibarth

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Breakfast: Maya's To Go

Breakfast: Maya's To Go

Maya's restaurant has been a sought after dinner reservation for decades, but as Maya's to Go it's become the insider's choice for breakfast and lunch too. In the morning, you can find muesli on fromage blanc, a perfectly flaky croissant, freshly squeezed exotic fruit juice, and killer coffee. Some days we go just to watch the island waking up. You see all the workers going to work, the tourists getting ready for the beach and the planes taking off at the airport. It is a vibrant and fresh, the archetypal St. Barth spot that attracts equal amounts of locals and tourists. Randy and Maya are in and out all day, greeting loyal clients who make Maya's to Go their first stop upon arrival. They know better than anyone else who is and is not on the island at any given time.

Beach: Petite St. Jean

This our favorite afternoon beach. It's especially fun when we can take a break on a weekday, when you have the best chance of finding a secluded spot all to yourself. With fine white sand, shade from the occasional coconut palm, and the soothing whisper of the wind, this beach on the eastern end of St. Jean is especially relaxing. The water is usually very calm, especially toward the right-hand side of the beach, where it can be so placid and clear that it feels like you are swimming in an azure lake. One big advantage of this location is that it is just steps from the heart of the village of St. Jean, with plenty of small restaurants and shops when you need a break from the sun. When the water is calm, this is an ideal beach for children.

Courtesy Sibarth

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Breakfast: Maya's To Go

Maya's restaurant has been a sought after dinner reservation for decades, but as Maya's to Go it's become the insider's choice for breakfast and lunch too. In the morning, you can find muesli on fromage blanc, a perfectly flaky croissant, freshly squeezed exotic fruit juice, and killer coffee. Some days we go just to watch the island waking up. You see all the workers going to work, the tourists getting ready for the beach and the planes taking off at the airport. It is a vibrant and fresh, the archetypal St. Barth spot that attracts equal amounts of locals and tourists. Randy and Maya are in and out all day, greeting loyal clients who make Maya's to Go their first stop upon arrival. They know better than anyone else who is and is not on the island at any given time.

Courtesy Sibarth

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Seafood: The fish market in Gustavia

At the entrance of Gustavia, there is a little fish market that many people do not know exists because you have to get there early—all the fish is usually sold out by 9 am. A group of local fishermen sell their early-morning catch to restaurants, locals, and visitors. Sometimes the fishermen have to sleep in the parking lot to save a spot. So if you wake up early enough, head into Gustavia and watch for the fisherman standing by the road and waving a lobster to catch the attention of passing drivers. In addition to langouste (Caribbean lobsters), you can often find dorade, wahoo, and tuna, which are all great for home cooking. The colorful reef fish on offer can be a little trickier to cook, and are usually used in local cuisine as a base for soups.

Courtesy Sibarth

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Produce: Le Ti-Marché

The owners of this little shop in Lorient divide their life between St. Bart's and Guadeloupe, the largest island in the Lesser Antilles, and import fruits and vegetables from there every week. Go on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, because once the produce arrives, everything sells out so fast that they are usually close up for the rest of the week. The selection is mouth-watering, from mango, pineapple, and orange to passion fruit, lychee, and sugar apples. They also offer pure coconut water, sugar cane, kombucha, and noni juices, 100 percent raw chocolate, local honey, and the dangerously hot Scotch-bonnet peppers.

Courtesy Sibarth

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Lunch: L'Isoletta

For an easy Roman lunch, we go to this little Italian trattoria-style spot in town. All the food is prepared in the morning so it is fast and convenient, and it's located in the heart of Gustavia. Kristina gets couple of slices of pizza (mushrooms with truffle oil is her favorite) with a San Pellegrino lemon soda. Ashley likes their daily pasta salad and a glass of Italian white wine. For desert we always share a tiramisu. It is also a great place for take-out. The fact that L'Isoletta is the little sister of L'Isola, one of the most popular and renowned restaurants on the island, is a good guarantee of quality.

Photograph by Chrystele Escure

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Design shopping: Yume

Yume is a new and fascinating interior design shop on Route de Saline, St. Jean. We like this shop because all items are high quality and mainly handmade with neutral colors, so they're easy to adapt to any interior. The owner also offers an intricate collection of clothes and scarves from natural materials like cotton, linen, and silk. It's a brand new shop that's only been around for a few months, but the owner has many years of experience in the industry.

Courtesy Sibarth

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Fashion: Filles Des Îles

This is our favorite shop, nestled in the Villa Créole shopping plaza in St. Jean. It's a boutique where a girl can find everything she needs for a great island look: great French brands for timeless and unique pieces, amazing perfumes, a big jewelry selection, leather bags and baskets, sandals and ballerina shoes. The owners are a lovely couple who give honest advice and make you feel welcome. Sometimes we spend almost an hour in just this one shop looking at things, trying them on, and hearing the stories about so many of the products.

Courtesy Sibarth

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Scenic route: A drive through Grand Fond

All drives around St. Bart's are breathtaking, but the drive through Grand Fond is the most exceptional. Here, along the island's Côte Sauvage, you can really smell the open ocean like nowhere else. It¹s the perfect refreshing alternative after a few hot beach days on St. Bart's. The whole Grand Fond is a very magical place with very little construction, picturesque vistas, rocky beaches made of weathered coral, and impressively turbulent waters. As you drive along the coastal road, the one lone is the famed Maison Nureyev. Situated on a rocky bluff mere feet from the pounding surf, it makes for a mysterious and lonely vision. It is a drive we discovered that won¹t found in most tourist guides.

Courtesy Sibarth

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Dinner: Le Carré Lounge

Le Carré, the ideal restaurant for people-watching, is a lively, unpretentious place to start the evening. The owner himself is almost always there and greets each guest like a regular. Because the restaurant is outdoors, in the middle of town, next to some of the most popular shops and galleries, we almost always run into friends who are just passing by, and the food is divine as well. We usually share cheese quesadillas, chicken wishbones with garlic, mini hamburgers with homemade chips, bone-marrow toasts. That sounds like a lot but it's so delicious that we don't put up any resistance. To balance the rich cuisine we end with fresh sorbet. Sibarth.com